Scope and Contents of the Materials

This collection of manuscripts by Charles L. Dufour includes the research notes, original drafts, revisions, final drafts and galley and page proofs of his books "Gentle Tiger," "The Night the War Was Lost," and "Nine Men in Gray." The collection also contains correspondence and notebooks from his trips to Europe.

Biographical Note

Charles L. "Pie" Dufour (1903-1996) was a New Orleans newspaperman, author, radio broadcaster, public relations worker, historian, and Tulane University professor. He came from a family that had moved to New Orleans in 1809, and he lived in the city except during the World War II era, when he served in the Army. He wrote twenty books, more than fifty scholarly articles, and over 9,700 installments of his daily New Orleans Item newspaper column, "Pie Dufour's a la Mode." He wrote on diverse subjects, including Louisiana history, New Orleans Carnival, law, sports, classical music, gourmet food, and European travel. Dufour worked as a reporter and columnist for the New Orleans Item (and States-Item) most of his adult life, retiring from journalism in 1978. He also wrote New Orleans, Yesterday and Today: A Guide to the City with John Chase, Walter G. Cowan, Osborne K. Leblanc, and John Wilds. He lived to the age of ninety-three.